


Alexander Hamilton as Summarized By Me

by justmeandmyfandomfeels



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Not Actually A Story, WELL HERE YOU GO, based on the book, more like a summary, want to know all the ways Hamilton is historically wrong, wrote this is in 24 hours for my history class
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-10 17:53:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8926612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justmeandmyfandomfeels/pseuds/justmeandmyfandomfeels
Summary: Have you ever wanted to know the historical truth of Alexander Hamilton?  Do you need/want to fact check your historical accuracy? Or are you're just curious how much of a dick Hamilton actually was? Did you see the length of the Ron Chernow biography and want to cry? Well I've read it and packed all the need to know information about Alexander Hamilton in a mere 31 pages.





	1. Early Life

**Author's Note:**

> Once again this is not a real story, it's a paper I wrote for my history class summarizing the Chernow book. I've separated it by chapters with chapter of similar topics being grouped together. Since this was for my class I didn't focus on how hisotry differed from the musical or some of the relationships (Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens, Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr, etc). If there's any interest and I'm not drowning in college stuff, I'd be happy to expand on anything anyone wants to know.  
> Enjoy!

Prologue  
Alexander Hamilton begins 80 years after the deadly duel between first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, and the then vice president, Aaron Burr. It opens on the true hero of the story, Hamilton’s widow, Elizabeth “Eliza” Schuyler-Hamilton. On the eve of the Civil War, Eliza opens her doors to visitors curious about the history of the now feuding nation. In her guest room, she has a bust of her long dead Hamilton, a portrait, and a silver cooler sent by George Washington himself after the publication of the Reynolds Pamphlet. Eliza is often said to have stopped in front of bust, stroking it and murmuring. For the fifty years she outlived her husband, she worked hard on preserving her husband's controversial but inspiring legacy. She entertained and educated visitors, collected and sorted through Hamilton’s thousands of writings, and helped her son compile a biography, which she would never live to see published. Over the years, Hamilton's legacy has been largely forgotten and ignored. As many of his political enemies and rivals (Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, etc) outlived him, their legacies continually shadow Hamilton's own. Nowadays, Hamilton and his ideas have become more and more popular thanks to our industrial advancements, including the move from Jefferson’s agrarian society, to Hamilton's more industry based one, making Hamilton's ideas much more relevant to today.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Alexander Hamilton’s childhood was one full of tragedy and hardships, one that is very different from the posh privileged lifestyles of most of the other founding fathers. Born January 11th, in either 1757 or 1759 into poverty on the tiny island of St. Croix to a Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton, Alexander had almost no chance of advancement or success. His mother was viewed as a whore, seductress and cheat and his father was a worthless, jobless, Scottish son. Before the birth of Alexander, Rachel was previously married young to a old man called Levien. She had a son with him, Peter, who would be her only legitimate child and would later take everything she owned. Rachel’s marriage to Levian was an unhappy one, eventually Levien wanted to teach Rachel a lesson in ungratefulness and had her thrown in jail for adultery. She remained there for weeks. Levien then found a better woman and hoped to take her for wife and demanded they get a divorce. As Rachel had nothing to give and nothing to lose, so she fled the island to Nevis and St. Kitts, abandoning her only legitimate son and husband and what was left of her family’s wealth. Levien got the divorce and Rachel was barred from ever marrying again.   
On Nevis and St. Kitts, Rachel met James Hamilton, the fourth oldest son of a rich Scottish family. Since James was not the oldest or the second oldest, he was expected to branch out on his own and create his own wealth. As he was no businessman, he left behind a string of failed businesses all ending with one his brothers bailing him out. He found himself on the sugar islands hoping to set a sugar plantation. Instead, he found himself settling down with Rachel Faucette. They got together and had two sons: James the younger and Alexander.   
As one more nail in the coffin of Rachel's first marriage, Levian came back claiming Rachel has broken the rules set by the divorce and worked to make sure Rachel would have no chance of gaining any of his money or land should he die. Now Rachel and James could no longer pretend to be a lawful couple and their sons to be legitimate. When Alexander was 10, James Hamilton abandoned his young family never to see them again. No one was sure what exactly prompted his abandonment; but it might have had something to with the fact that James could no longer provide for his family, or the boys had grown to be old enough to help bring in a income, which absolved him of any responsibility in his eyes. He might have been overwhelmed, ashamed or angry about Rachel’s previous marriage and the consequences of it. After James disappeared, Rachel returned to St. Croix and opened a shop with her sons. Since Hamilton was a bastard, all the schools on the island refused to educated him, till he was accepted into a Jewish synagogue and educated there for a short time.   
In 1768, Rachel and Alexander became deathly ill, an illness which would kill Rachel and leave Alexander and James orphans and penniless. Rachel was likely to have died next to Alexander as they both struggled with the disease. After Rachel died, everything she owned was taken by the island and given to her legitimate son Peter, leaving James and Alexander with nothing. Both boys then were taken in by their only living relative, their cousin Peter Lavien. Peter was infamous for having a black mistress and for claiming their son as his own. Overwhelmed by the public's opinion and his failing business, as well as the stress of taking on two more kids, Peter Lytton killed himself on July 17, 1769. He left everything he owned to his black mistress and his son and leaving the Hamilton boys with nothing.   
After their cousin's death, James went to work permanently as a carpenter apprentice and Alexander was taken in by the Stevens family. There he met one of his best friends, Edward (Ned) Stevens one who would remain with him throughout his life. An odd thing about the pair was that they looked very similar, so similar that many thought Ned and Alexander were brothers; encouraging the rumor the idea that Rachel “slept around” and slept with one Thomas Stevens. It also gives another reason James Hamilton might have left. If Alexander wasn’t his son, why stick around? While with the Stevens, Alexander went to work as a clerk at Beekman and Cruger. There Alexander developed an understanding of economics and his hatred of slavery. While the trading company he worked for wasn’t mainly a shipper of slaves, it brought in a few thousand every year. He experienced first hand the violence against slaves and probably inspected their horrible conditions himself. The owner of the company was also so impressed with Alexander's head for business and writing ability, that he would often leave him in charge, which allowed Alexander to expand his knowledge for trade and economics.   
Of course Alexander Hamilton didn’t want to be a clerk for the rest of life. He hoped to go to the colonies and receive an education, but because of his birth and lack of money he was worried he’d never escape the islands. Then on August 31, 1772, one of the most violent hurricanes wrecked St. Croix. Alexander was so stunned by the destruction, he wrote a poem that would eventually help him escape the islands. He wrote it in the form of a letter to his runaway father, describing his feelings during and after the hurricane. With the help of Hugh Knox, who collected money from residents on the islands, Alexander was sent to the colonies to get a medical degree. They originally hoped he would come back and be a doctor for people on the island. In October of 1772, Alexander sailed off to New York, cutting himself off completely to his childhood and childhood home, never to return.


	2. Education and Revolutionary War

Hamilton was initially supposed to receive his education from Princeton, ironically where Aaron Burr also went, but the president denied his plea to take a heavier load and graduate in two years. So he attended King's College in New York from 1773 to 1775 until he joined the war in 1775. There he meet many of his later supporters, as well as developed a pro revolutionary view, but a hatred of mob rule. Of course this is also where Hamilton began shaping his reputation as a verbose and lengthier, but brilliant writer. His early published works were focused on refuting loyalists and as well as established that violence might be needed to gain independence, but that all should be wary of mob rule. He also foreshadowed his later war strategies and policies.   
While the first two years of Hamilton’s time at King’s College were spent pretty isolated from the war, in 1775, the war began spilling over. On June 25th, on his way to Massachusetts, Hamilton's future boss and ally, George Washington passed through New York, where Hamilton watched as an anonymous face in the crowd. Then a month later on August 23rd, Hamilton faced for the first time Britain's extensive military, when the warship Asia, appeared in the harbor. Congress was worried that the British would take the two dozens canons posted at Fort George and there began Hamilton's military career. He joined fellow students on retrieving the canons and successfully brought back twenty-one, when the warship began firing. By 1776, Hamilton was commissioned by the Continental Army as a captain and given an artillery of 100 men. He and his men assisted in many skirmishes in New York until the army retreated. 

Hamilton served as an artillery captain in a few more battles till January 20th, 1777, when George Washington asked Hamilton to join his staff as an aide-de-camp, who accepted. Washington and Hamilton might have had mutual respect for each other, but were never friends. Many would think Hamilton would be happy with development, seeing as this is where he won the respect and trust of the future president and gained his future political allies and supporters as well as a wife. But Hamilton was bitter that he was chained to a desk to do paperwork, when he could have been fighting. He worked on Washington's staff for four years and found some of his greatest friends in John Laurens and the marquis de Lafayette. Hamilton's friendship with Laurens is especially controversial, because many other biographers have obeserved homeratic undertones in their letters. There’s even speculation from Hamilton's grandson that Hamilton and Lafayette might have more likely been lovers than him and Laurens. In both cases, Chernow dismisses this saying that in the 1800s, letters between men were always flowery and gay. The three worked together to write pleas and letters to congress, organize letters from various figures and help organize supplies and troops. After the war Lafayette would go back to France to organize the French Revolution and eventually be jailed. Laurens was killed by British forces after the war was over in South Carolina.   
During his time with Washington, Hamilton would never face any conflict, but suffered in camp and at Valley Forge. Hamilton had his first real experience with duels in 1778. On June 28th, Charles Lee sounded a retreat against Washington's orders and was court martialed. After, he and his supporter worked to vilify Washington, who was already facing criticism from Congress. Hamilton and Laurens were both angered at this unfair attacks on their commander and Laurens challenged Lee to a duel with Hamilton as his second. Neither were fatally injured, but Hamilton witnessed his first real duel.  
By working on Washington’s staff, Hamilton managed to bring himself up to a social level that allowed him to meet his future wife Elizabeth Schuyler, who he proposed to weeks after meeting her. The Schuyler's were a rich and politically prominent family in New York, who not only gave Hamilton wealth and social status, but political support. Eliza or Betsy as Hamilton called her, was pretty, kind, charming, curious and caring; everything a good wife needed to be. She was considered a founding mother in the way that she assisted her husband in everything he did and worked to keep the spotlight solely on him. While her intelligence wasn’t on the level of her husband, she was practical and had a lot of experience in social affairs, which would heavily assist Hamilton's later career. With Eliza came her two sisters Angelica and Margarita, called Peggy. At first many thought Hamilton and Angelica were lovers because of their connection intellectually. Angelica unlike her sister, was just as smart as Hamilton and stunningly beautiful. Angelica and Hamilton adored each other and had a very flirt heavy relationship. Chernow however believes that they had more of a mutual respect for each other, rather than attraction. Eliza though was never concerned with the odd relationship, which she thought actually brought her and Angelica closer.   
After his marriage to Eliza, Hamilton went straight back to the war, where he witnessed Benedict Arnold's betrayal and Arnold’s wives breakdown. He assisted in the last ditch attempt to capture Arnold, which failed. As well as helped send Peggy Shippen, Arnold’s wife, to stay with the wife of a British colonel, Theodosia Prevost, who would later become Aaron Burr’s wife. Hamilton was also extremely against John Andre's execution as a spy and fought fiercely with Washington about it furthering tensions between the two. Washington depended on Hamilton heavily, but Hamilton was desperate for a commend and angry at Washington for denying him.   
In December of 1780, Hamilton took his first vacation from the war to marry Eliza. After his honeymoon, Hamilton returned to camp ready to fight Washington for a command. The repressed frustrations between the two came to a head and Hamilton quit. But even after Hamilton left Washington's staff, he continued to harass him for the rest of the war for a command. When he wasn’t harassing Washington in person or through mail, Hamilton worked extensively on his ideas for a future government and the beginning of his future financial plan. Finally in July of 1781, Washington gave Hamilton his command and the army began moving towards Virginia and Yorktown. When Hamilton and his command reached Williamsburg, the outside of the battle of Yorktown, Hamilton was reunited one last time with his friends Lafayette and Laurens. Laurens had been petitioning in South Carolina to create a black regiment made up of freed slaves, when he was captured by British forces. In exchange for his freedom, Congress sent him to France to plead with King XVI for supplies. Which he brought to be of use during the Battle of Yorktown. Hamilton was put in command of three battalions to lead the charge on the British, something he’s been dreaming of since he was a boy.


	3. After the War and a New Government

A week after the victory, Hamilton rushed home to New York, where Eliza had given birth to their son Philip, named after Hamilton’s father in law. During the first few years of Philip's life, Hamilton finished his law degree in nine months and worked as a lawyer for loyalists who unfairly had their land taken away because of the war. He also worked with his future killer and fellow New York lawyer Aaron Burr on several cases. They often worked on opposing sides, and gained a good natured rivalry. Despite that Hamilton never really liked Burr, he respected him as a lawyer, but saw him as an empty kind of person. Of the many parallels between the two, they both had traumatic childhoods. Burr was born into wealth but by the age of two, most of his family was dead and he lived with his religious pastor uncle who was rumored to have often beaten Burr and his sister. He applied to Princeton at the age of twelve and was rejected. Then reapplied at the age of fourteen and was accepted as a junior, but only because his father was the president of the school before he died. Once again demonstrating scary parallels between Burr and Hamilton’s lives.  
While working as a lawyer, Hamilton worked on taxes, inflation and other economic matters that, in his eye, could make or break the country. He created the Bank of New York, which was meet initially with dismissal, but with it, Hamilton hoped to create a more stable exchange rate for different types of currency, as well create a common currency for the state if not the nation. He began creating what is today Wall Street and the Stock Market. During this time too, Hamilton was haunted by memories of slavery in the Caribbean and joined various anti slavery groups like The New York Manumission Society. According to Chernow, Hamilton was the only founding father to actively oppose slavery. Even before the government was officially established, Hamilton was busy with politics and economics that would define him for the rest of his career. 

 

In 1786, farmers in Philadelphia revolted, angry about tax collectors and debt collectors. All politicians were terrified by these events, Hamilton most of all. Ever since he witnessed slave revolts in the Caribbean, Hamilton had a strong hatred of mob rule and unjust violence. Hamilton and two other delegates were then sent to Constitutional Convention to represent New York. But throughout the negotiations, Hamilton was the only New Yorker to stick around and sign the Constitution. Of course the convention was hours of arguing and debates and speeches on how the American government should be set up. According to Chernow, this is where Hamilton made one of three of choices that destroyed his chances at being president and/or having a political career outside of Washington. For the first three weeks, Hamilton stuck to the side, till he finally got up and gave a six hour speech about his own form of elective monarchy that some liberties of a republic. This speech would later encourage Hamilton's future enemies to spread rumors that he wanted to turn the country back to Britain, that he wanted to establish a monarchy and that he was monarchist hoping to destroy the country from the inside. All of which were greatly exaggerated or just not true. Hamilton's plan was dismissed by the convention, but despite the rejection, Hamilton defended the constitution with everything he had, in the form of the Federalist papers. 

 

The Federalist Papers are now one of the most important documents in the history of democracy. They were initially published anonymously between 1787 and 1788 and totaled 175,000 words. The idea of a publishing pamphlets defending the constitution, in particular to convince Virginia and New York, was conceived by Hamilton. Initially Hamilton believed there would be five authors, rather than three and didn’t expect Jay to drop out after only writing five. In the end though John Jay wrote five, James Madison wrote twenty-nine and Alexander Hamilton wrote fifty-one, to make a total of eighty-five. Initially it was hard for historians to tell the difference between Madison's and Hamilton's, because of their shared pessimism towards common people and desire to block extremists and minorities control of the government. A main difference though, that would later lead to their falling out, was that Madison was a strict conformist to the constitution while Hamilton believed in a more flexible interpretation.   
In Madison's papers, he displays a deep understanding of theory and history, and focused on curving tyrannical reign and constitutional rights. While Hamilton had more practical knowledge, especially in economics and the military and focused on the executive and judicial branches. Hamilton started the papers calling out people that oppose the constitution and their motives, mostly which consisted of losing power. Jay in the next four outlined the current foreign policy and how it hurt the union. Hamilton wrote the next four, demonstrating the domestic consequences if the Articles of Confederation were kept in place. Then Jay fell ill and Madison wrote his most famous paper, number ten where he argued against the idea that democracy only worked in small states. In eleven through thirteen, Hamilton pointed out the advantages of unified country in ways of commerce and revenues. In fifteen through twenty-two, Madison and Hamilton outlined the current problems of the nation from inflation to debt and how a national government could better fix them. In twenty-three through thirty-six, Hamilton went through the constitution point by point, explaining and defending each part. In thirty-seven to fifty-eight Madison explained the general structure of the government. Hamilton discussed congressional elections and regulations in papers fifty-nine through sixty-one. Papers sixty-two to sixty-six, Jay, Madison and Hamilton collaborated to explain the senate. The rest of the papers were written by Hamilton, where he explained the executive and judicial branches. The papers convinced New York and Virginia and succeeded in helping passing the constitution.


	4. George Washington's First Term

The papers worked, but at the time it was still a narrow win and the government had step carefully and work to appease the states. Leading to the election of the universal hero and commander of the Continental Army, George Washington. Everyone knew that Washington would be the one to unite that states and no one knew that better than Washington himself. During all the negotiations, he was careful to keep quiet and not actively participate, as not to hurt the high esteem everyone held him in. So Washington was elected president, with John Adams as his Vice President. In the Constitution there is no rules for the president's cabinet and Washington wanted to have a variety of political views in his cabinet. So he elected Alexander Hamilton as Treasury Secretary, Thomas Jefferson as secretary of state, Henry Knox as secretary of war and Edmund Randolph as Attorney General. In 1789, when Hamilton took the position he faced many problems, in particular America’s national debt, lagging credit, and taxes. 

For the first few years of the government, Hamilton single handedly became the second most powerful man in the government. With such a new government and so many unwritten rules, Hamilton did whatever he thought was necessary to reach his goals. When he first started the government was so small, the staff Washington commanded at his plantation was bigger and since Jefferson didn’t show up till months after his appointment, Hamilton took on many of responsibilities outside his position. While this awed some, it angered others, John Adams for a long time would be jealous of the power Hamilton wielded, when he was stuck in the most powerless position ever. On top of this, he was working on writing another one of his most well known works, Report on Public Credit, where he addresses economic problems facing the nation, as well as introduces a plan for the national government to take on all the states debt. This idea was meet with outrage, mostly from people in the Southern states who had smaller debts then the Northern ones. This would also lead to the split between him and Madison, who was against the plan and would put them on opposite sides for the rest of their lives.   
After years spent in France, in March of 1790, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson finally showed up to assume his duties as secretary of state. Thomas Jefferson was a wealthy slave owner from Virginia, who made his reputation writing the Declaration of Independence. He was the opposite of Hamilton in every way, from his rich upbringing to his people pleasing politics. In comparison to Hamilton who looked down on the common masses, Jefferson (in theory) was a man who fought for the common masses, which demonstrates why Jefferson would later become president rather than Hamilton. Hamilton was a genius and everything he created was brilliant, but he never could connect to the public or other people like Jefferson could. Chernow often says that Hamilton had the tendency to either draw people in or drive them away. While Jefferson wasn’t universally liked, he was casual and lax enough to appeal to people, unlike Hamilton. Jefferson and Hamilton would later be renowned for their rivalry over everything, in particular power of the national government, the French Revolution and at this time Hamilton’s financial plan. 

While Hamilton’s financial plan was a big political issue, Congress was also fighting on where the capital of the country should be. For the first time and last time, on June 20th, 1790, at a secret dinner party held at Jefferson house; Madison and Jefferson negotiated with Hamilton that if the capital was moved to the south on the Potomac, they would vote in favor of his bill. With the Virginians support, Hamilton's financial plan was passed and the government assumed all the states’ debts. With this, Hamilton was put in charge of moving and controlling large sums of money, and since many didn’t understand the intricacies of the plan, Hamilton was accused of speculation many times. As well as assuming state debts, a tax was placed on whiskey to raise funds for the government, which would later cause problems. On top of this, despite the loud protests against banks, in the beginning of 1791 Hamilton got a twenty year long charter for the Bank of the United States. Looking back on Hamilton's compromise with Jefferson and Madison, it seemed he gained more then he gave away, as well as paved the path for his bank. But he also terrified Jefferson and his supporters so much, with his perceived power, that it triggered the ideas of political parties, as well as made a permanent and unrelenting enemy in Jefferson.   
Many would think after these successes, Hamilton would take a break to be with his wife and blooming family, but if anything he worked harder on creating a centralized banking system. At the time Eliza and Hamilton had five children and a busy social life, on top of his political career. Eliza organized many social events for her husband and based her style and home off Martha Washington, as the two had a very mother-daughter like relationship. Hamilton adored his children and spent the time he wasn’t working tutoring and playing with them. Despite this happy home life, when Eliza and his family left him alone in Philadelphia, Hamilton found himself prey to the seduction of a pretty young woman named Maria Reynolds.

 

Maria Reynolds was a twenty-three year old, alluring women who showed up randomly on Hamilton’s doorstep, pleading for help. Ever since his mother died, Hamilton had a weakness for helpless women and helping them. After Benedict Arnold betrayed the union, Hamilton, Washington and Laurens found his wife, Peggy Shippen screaming and having what seemed like a mental break down. Hamilton did everything in his power to give Shippen what she needed and placed her in a safe spot. Afterwards Shippen confessed to Burr’s future wife, Theodosia, that she played the whole army a fool and actually had assisted her husband in spying. So when a pretty women shows up on his doorstep begging for help, like the many women before, what’s Hamilton to do? At the time Eliza was home, but after she fell asleep, Hamilton left to deliver money to Maria. Then began the affair, but weeks later when Eliza left, he started bringing his mistress home. Soon it became apparent there was more to the affair then sex, Maria’s husband James Reynolds was actually caught speculating money for the US treasury. Soon Reynolds began blackmailing Hamilton for money in exchange of keeping the affair private. The affair went from 1791 to 1792, when in November of 1792, Hamilton cut off all contact with the Reynolds, after James Reynolds wrote from jail pleading for help. Angry at Hamilton for abandoning him, Reynolds revealed he had information that could bring down Hamilton, to James Monroe and other Republicans. In December, James Monroe and others confronted Hamilton thinking he was part of Reynolds speculation scheme, but instead found Hamilton had only cheated on his wife. They promised not to reveal anything and that seemed to be the end of it. What Hamilton didn’t know was that James Monroe made copies of all the letters, which would later fall in the hands of one Thomas Jefferson.   
Surprisingly, Hamilton had time for an affair and time to write Report on Manufactures, which focused on the future of industry in America; detailing foreign trade, domestic trade, manufacturing in the colonies and how America needs more manufacturing as not rely too heavily on other countries. This was opposite the views of Jefferson, who wanted America to always be a rural country based around agriculture, furthering the split between the two and their supporters. 

 

At this time political parties, or factions were viewed as a negative thing, but with the split between Hamilton and Jefferson, they seemed to become more relevant. In face of Hamilton’s many accomplishments, Jefferson and his supporters began collecting support to oppose him. Ironically, Aaron Burr with Jefferson’s support, replaced Hamilton's father in law as a New York senator. The 1790s also triggered an increase in vicious and negative press about and sent by both sides. Jefferson hired many outside writers in order to keep his nose clean and to publish attacks on various Federalists, Hamilton in particular. Hamilton just wrote responses anonymously. Among these pamphlet wars, Washington found himself surprisingly a target. Washington for the first four years was almost immune to criticism but with party alliances and associations more clear cut. Republicans had finally declared open season on all Federalists, Washington included. While Republicans were surprisingly vicious, Federalist gave just as good as they got, creating politics during the time volatile and dirty.


	5. Washington's Second Term

As a country born out of revolution and one that succeeded because of the French, many Americans were in favor of the French Revolution. But as the conflict got darker and more and more violent, politicians weren’t sure what to do. In theory, America should have supported France, but realistically, America didn’t have the resources to help. The Republicans, headed by Jefferson, were of course in favor of helping France. While Hamilton and the Federalists were extremely opposed to it. Jefferson had a strong hatred of the British after his visit to Britain and a love for France where he spent years as a diplomat. Hamilton viewed Britain as a worthy trading partner and the French Revolution as violent mob rule. Once again causing the chasm between the two parties to just grow bigger. It also lead to the bigger problem of how much should America associate with Britain.   
When reports of the bloodbath in France reached America, Jeffersonians dismissed them saying they were extreme propaganda. While Hamiltonians clung to the reports has proof for their argument. Even after the beheading of King Louis XVI in 1793, whose birthday was celebrated by American patriots was brought over, Jefferson refused to budge. Claiming that the king was in the way of the revolution and deserved what he got. When France declared war on other European countries, Washington had to quickly establish America's place in the looming war. Jeffersonians insisted that the country side with France, but Washington settled on neutrality.   
Despite this proclamation of neutrality, France sent diplomat Citizen Genet to encourage the government to send some support. All he did in the end was stir up trouble, ignore Washington's request to not whip citizens in a frenzy and anger the government. At the end of the Genet affair though, America had kept itself out of the war and Jefferson left his cabinet position. Despite this success, Hamilton was sick of his position, felt underappreciated by the public and felt besieged by enemies. And despite Jefferson’s departure, Republicans began gaining majorities in congress, and made their first action to pass a verdict on Hamilton's apparently corrupt conduct. At the beginning of 1794, congress grudgingly cleared Hamilton of any and all charges, calling them baseless.   
During this, Washington was hoping to send a delegate to Britain hoping to negotiate for a “free ships, make free goods” idea and to avert a war with Britain over the fact that they’re attacking and retaining American ships for no reason. Initially Hamilton was suggested to be sent, but Hamilton was worried that if he left the government would completely fall into Republican hands. He suggested instead sending John Jay, who wrote about foreign policy in the Federalist papers. After John Jay was sent off to Britain, America found itself receiving many French immigrants hoping to escape the war. And unlike the staunch French supporter, Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton and Eliza donated money, created care packages and helped the fleeing French people create new lives.   
With America at a standstill about France and Britain, the Whiskey tax and people's opposition towards it came to a head in 1794. Originally in 1792, Hamilton tried to placate people by lowering the tax, but citizens were angry at the tax for existing. They often compared it to the taxes Britain placed on the colonies before the war and used that as an excuse to act violently. While the violence happened on a smaller scale, it wasn’t till August 1st when 6,000 rebels gathered outside Pittsburgh that Hamilton decided the revolt became a violent attempt to overthrow the government. He petitioned to Washington to use the military to subdue the revolt. Washington instead of outright attacking warned the rebels they had until September 1st to disperse or the government would send a militia. On September 9th, Washington officially sent orders to assemble an army out of militias from New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland. Finally on October 4th, Hamilton and Washington arrived in Pennsylvania. The military faced very little resistance when they arrived and easily defeated the rebels. After Hamilton returned to his wife and family, he found Eliza had a miscarriage and was so destroyed, he decided to retire early 1795.  
While Hamilton wanted to spend more time with his family, he was in desperate need for some money. He went back to work as an attorney but continued write extensively about the government and in particular Jay’s treaty. On November 19th, 1794, Jay signed the final treaty and it arrived before him, because he refused to cross the ocean in the winter. Republicans met the treaty with anger, as Jay didn’t demand compensation for slaves stolen during the war or for American sailors and goods stolen. He also allowed Britain to be a most-favored-nation in terms of trade, which went against the idea of neutrality and angered both parties. Despite these major things, Jay had smaller victories in that he got Britain to evacuate northwest forts and allowed America limited access to the West Indies. While Federalists were unhappy with the treaty, in the end they got what they really wanted, peace with Britain. Republicans just saw it as a Federalist betrayal to their ally France. Much like the constitution, Hamilton wrote a strong defense for the treaty titled, The Defence. With this written defense of the treaty and Washington's support, the treaty passed, despite the public's and Republicans hatred of it.


	6. Adams Administration and The Reynolds Pamplet

Washington set the precedent for future presidents by only serving two terms and retiring despite many people's protests against it. His famous farewell address where he addressed concerns for the future of the nation and publicly announced that he wouldn’t run for a third term. Eliza after her husband's death, Eliza insisted that Hamilton helped Washington write the speech, despite many reports otherwise. After Washington retired, Adams considered himself as a shoo in for the presidency, so the real election in his eyes was for a Republican or Federalist vice president. Ironically the election for president was extremely close between Jefferson and Adams, a blow that hurt Adams pride so much, he would be bitter about it for the rest of his presidency. The election also worsened the relationship between Hamilton and Adams and ended with Hamilton being kept largely outside the Adams administration. John Adams was also a Virginian, but an abolitionist which unsurprisingly had very little effect on his politics except on cases he worked on as a lawyer. Unironically no one really liked Adams, mostly because his ridiculous ego and sensitive pride. His wife Abigail Adams was the only real redeeming thing about him. Because he was away so often, she took on his responsibilities and people mocked her calling her Mrs. President. Both Adams hated Hamilton with passion, mostly because he was a bastard from nowhere that gained more power in the government then Adams ever did till his presidency.   
Adams administration of course was very eventful in that in contained the XYZ affair with the French and his own creation of Alien and Sedition acts, which angered Adams VP Jefferson and his partner Madison. While this is important in American history, in Hamilton's case a lot of its largely unrelated to him, except in a few cases. Many of Adams cabinet would consult him on a variety of matters. Hamilton would also continue to write pamphlets refuting Republicans and sometimes even defending or supporting certain things Adams did. He also worked on some military matters, but nothing was made substantial.   
In June of 1797, Hamilton gained access to a series of pamphlets titled The History of United States for 1796, which advertised documents regarding his conduct as treasury secretary, rehashing the old speculation charge. The timing of the publication was especially interesting seeing as a few months early, Hamilton published something hinting at Jefferson own sexual dalliances with a slave he owned. When the pamphlet was officially published Hamilton faced the ordeal of should he let it be or respond? He chose to respond and mid July he published Observations on Certain Documents Contained in No. V & VI of "The History of the United States for the Year 1796," In which the Charge of Speculation Against Alexander Hamilton, Late Secretary of the Treasury, is Fully Refuted or nicknamed the Reynolds Pamphlet, where Hamilton publicly refuted the speculation charges by confessing to cheating on his wife and paying the husband of his mistress hush money. Hamilton's personal character was wrecked, but as a public figure his reputation was kept clean of any speculation charges. Many people believe that the affair is what ruined Hamilton's career; but much like every sex scandal any president has ever had, socially his character was stained. Politically though the pamphlet had limited effects on his career. Cherow is not sure how Eliza reacted to the publication, speculating that she might have burned their correspondence, as much of their letters were never found and there was never any directly referencing the affair or pamphlet. However there is no proof of anything except that long term Hamilton and Eliza’s relationship was not damaged. Eliza to her deathbed defended and adored her husband, and placed the blame for the affair solely on James Monroe, who leaked the information regarding the affair. Maria and James Reynolds marriage however didn’t survive and ironically Maria hired Aaron Burr to handle the divorce.   
After the Alien and Sedition acts passed in 1798 party conflicts got worst. Neither side trusted the other and the years after the acts were filled with heightened paranoia and even more newspaper wars. Here began rumors that Hamilton was working with the British and storing stolen money from the government in a bank over there. Something that is largely untrue, because never in his life had Hamilton had enough money to do something like that with. The Republicans in opposition to the acts went after Adams with a vicious vigour similar to their man hunts of Hamilton. These attacks angered Adams and damaged his large ego and sensitive pride. This party fighting would later lead to the turbulent and brutal election of 1800.


	7. The Election of 1800 and The Duel

In one final team up before Hamilton and Burr’s fall out, the two took on a murder case and worked together to get Levi Weeks off a murder charge. On December 22nd, 1799 the victim, Gulielma Sands left her boardinghouse to go visit her fiance Levi Weeks. They met up but Sands never returned home. Her body was found on January 2nd, badly beaten and Weeks was accused of impregnating her and murdering her. The real murderer, Richard Croucher confessed after either Burr or Hamilton (both claimed to have done it) waved a candle around his face proclaiming the light demonstrated the evil angles of his face. Levi Weeks was found not guilty. 

After the case Burr and Hamilton threw themselves into campaigning in New York and here began what is considered one of the most vicious and controversial election (not including the current one). Adams decided that he lost when the Republicans won New York. He would blame that loss on Hamilton who apparently corrupted his cabinet against him, causing other federalists to turn on him. Adams would continue throwing tantrum tempers and dragged Hamilton through the mud by insulting and blaming him for everything. Hamilton finally sick of the abuse, published the pamphlet that would ruin both Adams and his careers. The pamphlet titled A Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States which outlined and pointed out every single one of Adam's failures as well as Hamilton's own errant judgement. Despite tearing Adams apart, Hamilton endorsed him for president at the end. Despite this upset, the Federalists didn’t lose that badly the election that badly, but it ended with Jefferson and Burr tying for the presidency. Adams and Hamilton's feud also revealed the problems of the Federalist party and the reasons for its future downfall. The party was very elitist, and unlike the Republicans, didn’t appeal to the masses. The feud also ended a long list of unpopular decision the party made that was reluctantly approved by the government, but never fully approved by the public. 

With John Adams out of the picture, the race for the presidency was deadlocked between Jefferson and Burr. Many expected that Burr would throw the election to Jefferson, but he saw a chance at actually becoming president and said he would not seek the presidency but he wouldn’t reject it. In December it was clear that the electoral college would be tied and the vote was thrown to the house, where the Federalists had the majority. After the Adams feud, Hamilton didn’t have as much influence on the Federalists. If he did he would have asked them to vote for Jefferson. But with his dwindling influence, he convinced one man to withdraw his vote for Burr, giving the presidency to Jefferson. 

Hamilton then began disappearing from the public eye, with a Republican majority in the government and the Adams pamphlet, he became irrelevant in politics. During this time though, Hamilton resettled with Eliza and his seven children in his home he commissioned called The Grange. He started the New York Post to publish his works in which is still in circulation today. Then on November 22nd, 1801, Hamilton's oldest son Philip challenged Republican, George Eaker over comments he made about Philip's father. There were rumors that Philip went to his father before the duel, who advised him throw away his shot and end the duel peacefully but with honor. Originally Eaker and Philip both aimed at the sky, but Eaker then shot him in hip, causing a mortal wound. Philip died in his parents arms. At the time Eliza was pregnant and when she would later give birth, her and Hamilton named their eighth child after Philip. Hamilton would spend the rest of his days in a dark depression caused by his fall in politics and death of his son.  
Back in politics, Jefferson was a very popular president, despite his blacklisted vice president, Aaron Burr. After Burr's refusal to give the election to Jefferson, the Republicans didn’t trust Burr and Jefferson refused to work with or include Burr on any policies. At the end of Jefferson's first term, Burr approached him wondering if he would have any future in Republican policies; he wouldn’t. After finishing his vice presidency, Burr planned to run for New York governor but would be defeated utterly. This fall from power and the many smear campaigns against Burr made him very bitter man in 1804. So when he caught wind that Hamilton denounced him bluntly at dinner with Federalists, he reached the end of his tether. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, which surprised Hamilton as Burr had nothing to gain from murdering Hamilton, politically or socially. They wrote extensive correspondence back and forth and unlike the other duels Hamilton and Burr were part of, this one was planned and thought out. 

On July 11th, 1804, Hamilton and Burr meet at Weehawken in New Jersey for a deal. Chernow references psycho-biographers that claim the duel was hidden suicide for Hamilton. After the destruction of his political career in 1800, and the loss of his son, he fell into a deep depression. There are several conflicting accounts of what actually happened at the duel, but all confirm that Burr shot and killed Hamilton. Hamilton's doctor Pendleton insisted that Burr shot first and Hamilton’s shot was a response to the shock of the bullet. Van Ness, Burrs doctor insisted that Hamilton shot first and Burr actually recoiled before shooting his fatal bullet. Burr even claimed that after Hamilton shot first, Burr waited a few seconds because the smoke from Hamilton's gun obscured his face. Neither explain why Hamilton missed as he was renowned for having stellar aim. Pendleton found Hamilton’s bullet in the trunk of a oak tree, four feet away from where Burr stood. When Burr would return to the ground in seventies, he revealed to his friend who came along that he knew Hamilton was going to throw away his shot, but Burr shot to kill anyway. Hamilton’s last recorded words were him claiming several times, he did not intend to do harm to Burr and to take care of the pistol, but even after those he spoke for hours with difficulty, until he died.


	8. Eliza (deserved better 18k4)

Hamilton's death was met with outrage everywhere, even his enemies Jefferson, Adams and Madison were stunned. Despite what some might think, many of Hamilton's enemies didn't want him to actually die. After the duel Burr's political career and personal life was in tatters, Many thought he was joyful over the death of Hamilton. For awhile he might have been but ultimately it was more likely Burr began to regret the destruction of his reputation rather than Hamilton's actual death. As he would never actually show any remorse for killing him. After killing Hamilton, Burr returned to the senate to finish fulfilling his duties as vice president. While serving as VP, he was praised for his handling of several matters, giving him hope he might have a career after his term was up. But as soon as his term was over he found himself politically exiled and poor. The rest of his life was spent lonely, as many of his relatives and family died from various causes and he became a recluse. He died twenty-four years after the duel from a stroke and was buried at Princeton. 

Eliza was of course the most dramatically affected. Within three years she lost five of her closest family members, her sister, her mother, her father, her son and her husband, not to mention her oldest daughter, Angelica had a mental breakdown. On top of these losses, Hamilton left Eliza alone with tons of debt and seven children to raise alone, with the youngest being three year old Philip. The Schuyler fortune had been spread between the eight children and what was left invested in failed business endeavors, so Eliza found no financial help from her family. Eliza lacked so much money that Hamilton's friends scraped together an emergency subscription fund, which still did little to decrease Eliza’s financial stress. After Jefferson left office, Eliza petitioned to Madison demanding the government give her Hamilton's pension from the war, that he initially refused, as well as bounty lands. And after a long struggle they gave it to her. 

Struggling with money like Eliza was, she bemoaned her inability to educate her kids the way she and Hamilton wanted. Despite this apparent lack, all of her sons went to take jobs in law, politics or the military. Her second son, Alexander went on to become a lawyer and fight in the war of 1812. Ironically he helped Eliza Jumel, Burr’s second wife, divorce him after she accused Burr of cheating on her and taking her money. James, her third son worked as secretary of state under Andrew Jackson, where he ironically was opposed to renewing the charter of the Second Bank of America. He also served as a lawyer and was good friends with Martin Van Buren. Her fourth son, John, became a lawyer, but spent most of his time organizing and publishing his father's writings and letter. He’s the one that destroyed some of the correspondence between Hamilton and Lauren and Hamilton and Angelica, calling it indecent. Her last son called Little Phil worked as a lawyer for the “poor man”. Eliza’s eldest daughter, Angelica wasted away after having a mental breakdown when she found out her older brother died, as the two were very close. Finally her youngest daughter also called Eliza, spent all her life taking care of her mother as she got older. 

Eliza lived fifty more years alone and unmarried after Hamilton died. During that time she witnessed with dismay, the rise of Republicans and the destruction of her husband's legacy at their hands and the beginning of the split between the North and the South. Not wanting Hamilton’s enemies to completely erase him from American history she spent the rest of her life preserving his legacy while keeping herself out of it. Historians have viewed her as nothing more then Hamilton widow, but her accomplishments after he died were almost as impressive as anything Hamilton had done. She opened the first private orphanage in New York and started the Hamilton Free School which was the first educational institution in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. Finally, after fifty years alone on November 9th, 1854, Eliza died and was buried by Hamilton's side in Trinity Churchyard.


	9. Ron Chernow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is more of an overview of Ron Chernows life then about Hamilton and how he came to write the biography, plus details about the ridiculously long book. Along with that I've written a review that touches on some of the problematic aspects of the book. Enjoy!

Ron Chernow was originally a freelance journalist who focused heavily on business and economics. He wrote for companies like the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, until 1990 when he began publishing biographies of famous bankers and business tycoons. In 2004, he published his most famous biography “Alexander Hamilton” about the founding father and the politics of the time. In 2011 he published another biography but about George Washington, which chronicles his whole life. Currently, he is working on a biography about the Civil War hero and president, Ulysses S. Grant. On all of his books he received high praise and various awards. His novel “Alexander Hamilton” is especially renown now, because of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton: An American Musical was based on the book. On top of being the inspiration for the Tony and Pulitzer prize winning musical, the novel was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Awards and won the George Washington Book Prize and spent three months on the New York Times Best selling list. 

Ron Chernow is famous for his fascinating and detailed, yet lengthy novels, with both Hamilton and Washington being about 800 pages a piece. And one thing I know after reading the book is that the details are the most important part. Chernow spends a lot of time giving context and background to every single figure in Hamilton's life, from every politician that Hamilton associated it, to the people that were associated with people that Hamilton knew. In Jefferson and Adams administrations, he spends time describing all the historical events that happened even the ones that had little to no effect on Hamilton. Whenever Hamilton was off practicing in law, Chernow focused heavily on the politics that often didn’t include him. He also spends chapters upon chapter explaining many of Hamilton's policies especially his finance plane. Hamilton was an economic genius and his plans reflected that, but as a casual reader who is not a genius, these lengthy explanations were frustrating and confusing. While there are advantages to the book being lengthy, as a casual reader it was sometimes a struggle to get through. 

Chernow wrote this book to pay respect and to educate people on what he considered unappreciated hero of the early American government, Alexander Hamilton. Overall Chernow achieves this. The book is detailed and seems to contain any and all works associated with Hamilton. For the most he does a good job of portraying and explaining a seemingly complex man. In the case of Hamilton's childhood, which Chernow lacked documents for, Chernow does a good job of patching the little and scattered information he has into a coherent story. Chernow sorts through the many lies and legends that surround Hamilton, to accurately describe what Hamilton actually did and thought. And when Chernow couldn’t find concrete evidence for certain things, he would explore all options/outcomes of the events/information, such as Hamilton’s birth year. There’s no concrete proof for either 1757 or 1759, but Chernow lays evidence for both and then makes his own decision. As well as educating people on Hamilton's life, Chernow clearly hopes to convince others to realize Hamilton is an unsung hero as much as Chernow think he is. Which is the overall argument of the book, Hamilton’s life was an interesting and productive one, one that deserves more respect and admiration. While I agree with the idea it’s interesting, I don’t view Hamilton in the same light Chernow does. Hamilton did great things but he wasn’t a great guy. 

Ron Chernow clearly adores Alexander Hamilton, despite his criticism of some of the choices he made, he respects and admires Hamilton. While this admiration isn’t bad, it can sometimes comes across as bias. He clearly thinks Washington and Hamilton were the superior founding fathers compared to Madison and Jefferson, who he dismisses as outdated and wrong. He writes about Washington almost reverently, shrugging off criticism for the former president and dismissing his owning of slaves as unproblematic. He also glorifies and exaggerates Hamilton victories and morally superior ideals, especially about slavery. Chernow claims Hamilton was the founding father that did the most to stop slavery, but only shows that Hamilton didn’t own slaves (he was too poor to) and he joined a few abolitionists clubs. That doesn’t make him a savior to black people or slaves, despite what Chernow portrays. All in all, in a modern perspective Hamilton was not that great of a guy. He had a traumatic childhood that made him extremely sensitive to any and all criticism; a sensitive pride that got him in numerous duels and feuds including the one that killed him; and he cheated on his wife and then publicly announced it without any shame. Hamilton had a lot achievements, but like a lot of politicians he lacked a good personal character.

Chernow also has a habit of being extremely sensitive and critical to the ideas that Hamilton wasn’t a straight, white man typical of the time. He dismisses any claim that Rachel might have been black or half black, despite the fact that it’s extremely probable. But if she were not full white, then Hamilton wouldn’t be fully white which goes against the idea that only white men had significant effects on forging the nation. Which in the 800 pages, not once does he acknowledge any of the accomplishments of slaves around Hamilton, or even their existence except when it puts Hamilton in a good light or Jefferson/Madison in a bad light. Despite extensive proof towards the idea of Laurens and Hamilton being lovers, including the very romantic letters they wrote and the fact that Hamilton's son destroyed much of their correspondence because it was too dirty for the world to see. He dismisses it because sodomy was illegal and that the two would be taking a great risk becoming lovers. Chernow is also more amused at the idea of Hamilton being susceptible to helpless women, rather than critical. Throughout his career, Hamilton often fell for women, like Peggy Shippen, Maria Reynolds, even his sister in law Angelica, that had negative ratifications some worse than others. But because of Hamilton's apparent unquenchable lust, all these trysts are shrugged off as normal, when they’re not. It be like dismissing Jefferson’s affair with his slave, Sally Hemings, as okay because Jefferson was lonely after the death of his wife or that she was his property at the time. This dismissal of women by Chernow also points to Chernow's own bias against women. He writes every woman in the book as stereotype of the kind nurturing mother (Rachel Faucette, Eliza Schuyler) or a seductress and conniving witch (Maria Reynolds). While this might reflect more Hamilton's own views then Chernow’s, either way he’s not critical of it.

Overall this book was fascinating, I enjoyed reading it despite some of the issues and length. I learned a lot not only about Hamilton, but the Revolutionary War and the founding of country as well. Chernow, despite his biases and dismissals of certain ideas, writes the book in a fresh and interesting way that’s unfounded in normal historical writing. The book and its ideas are especially relevant today. We’re living in Hamilton's vision of a future world, one based on manufacturing, stocks and banks, rather than agriculture. Hamilton is practically the patron saint of capitalism in America. Many of his ideas and policies are extremely applicable today in a way that Jefferson and Madison's aren’t. Jefferson based his ideals on the idea that America should be an agriculture based society forever, compared to Hamilton who wanted a industry based America. Hamilton also serves as an example in a much more diverse world of the classic story of an outsider or underdog of achieving the American dream. Whether or not you believe in that, Hamilton’s life is awe striking in how high he rose from his childhood to how low he later fell. And in a time full of so much conflict in politics, it eases me to look back the beginning and realize that’s how it’s always been. This fighting and mudslinging is not new. It also drives home the idea that this nation was built on compromise, and much like the founding fathers before us we need learn to cooperate.


End file.
